California AB 1726: Divisive, Racist, and Unscientific

--- An Open Letter to AB 1726 Initiators and Advocates ---

To: Assemblymember Rob Bonta, David Chiu, Evan Low, Philip Ting, Shirley Weber, Des Williams

Dear Assemblymembers,

AB 1726 is divisive. No matter how AB 1726 is presented, it, in essence, is to divide people, pull communities apart, segregate the society, and build up invisible walls among various ethnic groups. As leaders of our communities, you are expected to unify people and ensure each and every California resident, regardless of one’s ancestry or ethnic origin, to be treated equally, fairly, and justly.

Half a century ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Dr. King’s dream is indeed everyone’s dream, which deserves everyone, including you and me, to make every effort to turn it into true. However, AB 1726 leads people into a wrong direction, which is totally opposite to the human civilization process.

AB 1726 is narrow-minded and racist. By definition, racist is characterized as having or showing the belief that a particular race is superior to another or that a particular race is inferior to another. As described by Chief Justice John Roberts, "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” Nevertheless, AB 1726 proposes to subdivide Asian Americans into more subgroups with the assumption that not all ethnic groups are equal. Isn’t it racist?

Of course, you claim that AB 1726 is for the benefit of better educational achievement for Asian Pacific Islander (API) subgroups. Wrong! Again, you have rooted your reasoning in the assumption that not all ethnic groups are equal. Certainly, we understand that some people, especially those who are now socioeconomically underprivileged, may need extra assistance and care from other people, society, and government. As a matter of fact, such underprivileged individuals can be of any ancestry or ethnic origin. They can be Latino American, African American, Chinese American, Filipino American, or British American, Irish American, or Italian American, and so on. It is irresponsible and derelict that you simply and abrasively correlate educational achievement of individuals with an ethnic group in a racist manner. On the contrary, we should extend our help to every socioeconomically underprivileged individual, regardless of one’s ancestry or ethnic origin.

You claim that AB 1726 is for the benefit of better health outcomes for API subgroups. Wrong! Legally, wrong! Morally, wrong! Scientifically, wrong! As leaders of the communities, you are not expected to take care of only API residents, but all people of all ethnic groups. So, why not subdivide other ethnic groups, such as Latino, White, and Black, but only subdivide Asian Americans? The bill claims not to apply its categorization requirements to demographic data of graduate and professional schools of the University of California. Why should the graduates and some professionals be excluded from the health benefit? Moreover, the way of ethnic subdivision, proposed by AB 1726, is far from being scientific, which may result in disastrous health outcomes. The bill fails to recognize biological and genetic disparities within each so-called ethnic subgroup, for it shows no consideration of children out of interracial marriages, or complexity of ancestry or ethnic origin within a subgroup. Taking Chinese Americans as an example, there are 56 ethnic groups in China, and therefore, a Chinese American can be from any one of the 56 ethnic groups, even without considering interracial marriages.

We strongly suggest that you open your mind, look forward, follow the correct direction of civilization process, and build a better California, instead of wasting taxpayers’ money to play racial cards.

Please withdraw AB 1726!

Yours sincerely,

Tony Qin, Ph.D.

March 27, 2016